@Adejoh : #BringBackOurGirls and self-serving activism

by Adejoh Momoh

It was him really, Abubakar, easily one of the smartest people I have met during the course of the Bring Back Our Girls Advocacy. It was he who asked me, ‘are you not tired? It has been 149 days since this advocacy began and you keep coming, why’s this?’ At that point, I wished it was something big; some grand messiah complex that kept me coming, but no, it was something basic; nothing beyond a fear of the future.

His question made me ask what my motives were. If I told myself a lie every time at the village square meeting when I said I was not tired of being a part of the advocacy. For friends like Abubakar, the simple answer to the first question is, I am tired of coming out; of suffering sunburn everyday, of sacrificing 3 or 4 productive hours daily, of dreading the clock as it turned 2:30 pm. Long ago, it stopped being about rescuing the Chibok girls for me, my motives took a more selfish turn, it started being about me, about making sure this did not happen to me in future. Like me saying to myself, ‘if you are not here to stand for these girls who can very well be your sisters, will anyone be standing for you when you are abducted?’

The answer to this question helped me accept the harsh truth that beyond being tired of this daily sacrifice I have committed to, I am even more tired of the numerous injustices that plague the Nigerian system: I am tired of kidnappings and killings that are not met with justice thereby ensuring closure for its victims, I am tired of corruption in trillions in a desperately poor country, I am tired of the desecration of wholly Nigerian institutions especially the Christian Association of Nigeria whose President has made this institution that should be in the fore front of progressive discussions in Nigeria a political tool and all other pastors who claim to stand on the side of truth, fairness and justice, yet choose to look away. It is the fear that without people like me standing for the Chibok girls, for Nigerias internally displaced people, for all the victims of violence, things will only get worse that keeps me standing.

There is the erroneous thought that activism is some sort of calling: something best left to the professionals, but the fact that anyone lives in Nigeria should provoke activism in any such person.

Yes, there is the hope that all our Chibok sisters will return but as is with a country like Nigeria, most times hope is not enough. The answer to Abubakar’s second question simply is; it is the fear that I will be kidnapped some day and no one will stand outside in some square demanding that the government goes on a rescue mission and brings me back that keeps me devoted to the #BringBackOurGirls advocacy in spite of being tired. This fear, however illogical, rattles me to my bones. It is this very same fear that has provoked what some of my friends have described as activism in me; it is this very fear that should provoke activism in everyone who reads this.

There is the erroneous thought that activism is some sort of calling: something best left to the professionals, but the fact that anyone lives in Nigeria should provoke activism in any such person. Activism is not a calling or some privileged position preserved for a select few, it is a patriotic citizen’s reaction to a dysfunctional system; the ability to see a society not working right and wanting to be a part of its change, wanting to see it fixed. To those who also mistake activism for disrespect to the government or constituted authority let me say this, submitting to authority does not extend to obeying or condoning a system that perpetuates and to some extent promotes injustice. In fact, a government only deserves the loyalty of its subjects if it can provide them the most basic necessities they need for livelihood and if anyone is truthful to themselves, Nigeria has failed woefully in this regard. We must be aware as we willfully submit ourselves to government; we must not be blind or make the conscious decision to ignore its shortcomings.

This is why movements like the #BringBackOurGirls profit Nigeria: its composition really is an ideal picture of society: the old, young, Christian, Muslim, unemployed, employed, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba: it is at its very core a group of people saying they have faith in the abilities of a government and its military to embark on rescue missions, engage in hot pursuits and take back territory insurgents have previously occupied, fight violence till it ceases to exist and reverse all the damage it has inflicted on the nation. The thing is though, to bring about such a Nigeria as the #BringBackOurGirls movement envisions, we must raise our voices together and speak louder than those who seek to promote regional, ethnic and religious divides.

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

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